Concentrated buttermilk



l. S. MERRELL.

CONCENTBATED BUTTERMILK.

APPLICATION FILI-:D JUNE Io, |920.

'PatentedSept 20, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

I. S. MERRELL.

coNcNTRATED BUUERMILK.

APPLICATION FILED lUNE 10, 1920.

1,391,642, Patentedsept. v20, 1921.

`2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lll

' to apply the '4s Yeven ordine ry fresh milk, upon heated UNITED ,STA-'rss PATENT OFFICE.

IBVING S. MERRELL, OF SYRACUYSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 MERRELL-BOULE COI- PANY, 0F SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

i CONCENTRATEI) BU'I"J.ERMI1IILK.

1,391,642. i Original application illed April 8, 1916,

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, IRVING S; MERRELL, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Concentrated Buttermilk, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in food products, and more specifically to a new product, viz: concentrated buttermilk.

'Although attempts have been made and experiments carried outl by me for the production of concentrated buttermilk, I have never heretofore been able to produce a concentrated buttermilk in which there was not, during the concentration or immediately subsequent thereto, a separation of certain of the constituents of the buttermilk resulting, first in a iaky appearance in the product, and in a short time in the complete wheying off or separation of the coagulated proteids from the whey. So far as I am aware, conceptratcd buttermilk has never been successfully produced, the period of concentration so increasing or allowing'the increase of acidity as to render the proteids insoluble in the resultant product.

Attempts have likewise been made by me to produce a soluble buttermilk powder, both by the use of the hot roll process and by the use of the spraying rocess as first disclosed in Letters atent o. 666,711v to Stauf. It is found that the drying of buttermilk, aild ro s destroys the solubilityof the product. The process escribedl by Stauf, consisting in introducing the milk in the form of a fine spray or mist into moisture-absorbing air does not effect the solubility of powder produced from ordinary raw milk, but attempts Stauf process to buttermilk disclosing the l milk are rendered insoluble during the drying operation, so that buttermilk, recon-J stituted from buttermilk powder made in accordance with Stauf, and which is the only known method of producing4 a soluble milk powder, shows within thirty minutes distinct evidences of separation or wheying off.

I have now discovered a process for producing, and have. produced, by the use of such process, concentrated buttermilk which Specification of Letters Patent.

factthat the proteids of the.

scribe. The tanks Patented sepaaogmzi.

Serial No. 89,901.A Divided and this application nled June 10, 1920. Serial No. 887,938.

does not have the flaky appearance of the prod uct produced by the prior attempts, and 1n which the proteids have not been rendered insoluble and are not separated from the remainmg constituents of the milk.

I have further discoveredthat by pre- 'concentrating the buttermilk in accordance with my process, and then dryin the same by introducingI the concentrated uttermilk 1n the form of a fine spray or mist into moistureabsorbing air, a soluble buttermilk powder 'is obtained, which, when reconstituted by the addition of water, willv not whey 0H for aconsiderable period of time, not less than twenty-four hours. The reconstituted product is, therefore', an improvement upon ordinar raw.v fresh buttermilk which will whey o if left to stand for a period of time not to exceed two or three hours.

These two products are my inventions andn the recesses for producing said products are likewise my inventions.

In the drawings, I have disclosed somewhat diagrammatically a suitable apparatus for carryinn' out a satisfactory process for producing these new products. v l

Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the liquidconcentrating chamber and the vapor-condensing chamber of the concentrating apparatus.I v

The apparatus is substantially the same as that disclosed in my co-pending applications, filed under date'of November 18th, 1915, and comprlses, as shown in Fig. rL11-concentrating apparatus -1\ consisting of a steamjacketed liquid-concentrating chamber-2, a vapor-condensing chamber -3- connected thereto, and a series of milk-receiving tanks 4, each connected tothe chamber -2- for the assage said tan s, and vapor-condensing apparatus 3l for producing in each or all of said tanks the same Adegree of vacuum that exists in the chamber The pipe -5 is adapted to be connected to any suitable pump adapted to` form a seal for` the vapor-condensing chamber 'and not necessary to herein further illustrate or de- 4 are each suitably and independently connected to a pipe 6 Serial Nos. v62,243, and 62,244, both ofliquid to each or all of likewise connected to the through which the milk may be drawn by a small pump -7- and forced into and through a heatin apparatus -8, of an known or desirab e construction, from whic the milk passes to a pressure pump -9- by means of which it is forced under high pressure through pipe 10 and atomizer 1linto a desiccatlng chamber -12-. Moisture-absorbing a1r in suiiicient re lated volume is supplied through the air tube '13- which, in this instance, is shown as directing the air into the desiccating cham-- ber in such a manner that it surrounds and envelops and carries forward the spray. Any suitable means, such as a screen, may be provided for separatingthe powder from the moisture-laden air.

The specific construction of the liquidconcentrating chamber and the vapor-condensing chamber of the concentrating apparatus is disclosed in Fig. 2. The liquid-concentrating apparatus comprises a vertically arranged cylindrical chamber or heater '-14-- formed preferably of thin sheet metal, such as sheet tin, having a substantially closed bottom provided with a central openinl5- constituting an inlet for the mili The'exterior surface of the chamber or heaten-lis preferably provided with a plurality of horizontally disposed circumferential drip rings -16-, preferably having their edges fluted, to dlscharge the condensation collecting upon the outer surface of the heater.- This chamber or heater is 'surrounded by a suitable casing -17- forming a steam jacket into which steam may be introduced through the 'casing in any suitable and well-known manner.

Within the chamber -14- is positioned a rotary beater 18- formed of a pair of end castings -19- and 20-carried by a vertically arranged central shaft 2lhaving its lower end journaled in a spider --22 positioned in the opening l5- and its upper end removably j ournaled in a bearing -23- y carried bythe cap ,-24- o f the vagor-condensingy apparatus 25.

. uitable vvertical bars 26- are secured to the end castings -19- and .-20- and these bars may in certain cases carry al series of horizontally disposed rin -sha ed disks -27-' of a diameter but sli tly ess than the interior diameter of t e heater -14- whereby upon rapid rotation of the beater -18- the milk is caused to travel `in a ilmup the wall of the chamber, the horizontally disposed ring-shaped disks constituting dams, preventing the milk v'from flowing except in a substantially uniform slze.

The u per end of the chamber I4-'- is surroundied by a trough 28,- from which the dischargepipe -29- leads to each of the tanks 444-, a suitable three-way valve -30- or other means being provided for controllingthe flow 'of the milk into either.

yform a portion of the invention claimed in my said copending application. The shaft 2l-s, and thereby the beater, may be driven in any suitable way, as by gearing -33- and pulley -34-, not necessary to herein further illustrate or describe.

The vapor-condensing chamber -25- is of the same form and operates u on the same principle as in my said copen ing application; the vapor issuing from the heater -14-- drawn into the vapor-condensingapparatus -25- where it comes in contact with a series of water sprays issuing from the pipe -35-, whereby the vapor is condensedl to retain and increase the vacuum in the apparatus.

The tanks -4- are each connected to the cap 24- of the -`vapor-condensing apparatus by a pipe -36- by Ineans of which vacuum may be produced'in either one or both of said tanks so that the milk will freely flow from the liquid-concentrating apparatus to either or both of-said tanks, as it is desired.

The known commercial operation of concentrating milk whichl have found unsuccessful in the concentrating of buttermilk is, of course, carried on by batchesthat is,-

a quantity of milk is forced into the vacuum pan, replenished as the operation contlnues and allowed to remain there subjected to the heat for two or three hours, and then drawn off and a second batch placed in the pan and boiled down inthe same manner. Cool entering milk is continuously being mixed, and its temperature averaged with the heated concentrated milk in the pan. These conditions not only injuriously affect the flavor and keeping qualitiesofaH milk, but have, in practlce, been found unsuccessful in operating upon butter milk, doubtless by reason ofthe increase in the acid content thereof, renderingthe proteids insoluble and causing a separation or wheying oif in the product.

The process disclosed herein is 4a continuous one and involves a centrifugally produced flowing layer of milk movlng over a heated surface, preferably yin a high vacuum. By hi h vacuum is intended a vacuum of upwar of18 of mercury, the vacuum used in practice being from 23",'to 26 of mercury, corresponding tobuttermilk vaporizing temperatures of 144 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. The centrifugal force constantly tends to arran e the heavier portions of the liquid againstie hot wall or surface, but the heat lightens the liquid by producing vapor in it, and thus compels it to retreat from the wall to make place for the non-vaporized heavier portion, thus `constantly arranging the light vapor containing liquid nearer the center of the chamber where its vapor may escape most readily, and constantly arrang- 1n heated surface where it receives the greatest heat.

By in contact with the heated surface is liquid until the instant of its displacement from contact with such surface. The moment it boils, it is immediately displaced by the heavier non-boilingdiquid and moved inwardly and the vapor, separated from the liquid by the centrifugal action of the beater, is discharged, while the liquid containing the solids is thrown back into the moving layer of milk. r

This automatic action lof the centrifugal force constantly moving the cooler portions o f the liquid into contact with the heated wall and constantly withdrawing the boiling portion with its bubbles, eliminates scorch ing of the material which occurs when bubbles remain in contact with the heating surface. 'I

During its passage through the chamber the layer of milk is held in contact with the heated surface, and is uniformly subjected to the heat, whereby. the evaporation and concentration is uniform, and is effected during the relatively short period of time consumed by the passage of the milk through the chamber, approximately afminute and a quarter to concentrate skim milk?) Orff to l in an apparatus of predetermined size operated ,at predetermined beater' speeds. When the mechanically forced flowing layer of milk reaches the vaporizing temperature it is not cooled by, or its tem erature averaged with a constantly replenished adjacent body of milk of different temperature. All

of the liquid passing through the chamber is continuously and uniformlsubjected to contact vwith the heated wal and to the transfer of heat by the inwardl moving bubbles, and is uniformly heated thereby, as distin luished from the known apparatus in which only a comparatively small portion of the liquid is directly-heated by contact with the heating surface, the remaining porthe non-vaporized liquid nearest. the

reason of this action, the material tions being heated by contact with the adjacent heated milk.

The mechanical Vmovement of the milk continues to subject it uniformly to the vaporizing temperature as the viscosity increases. The briefness of the time during which the milk is subjected to the Vaporizing temperaturev and the uniformity of subjection to'this temperature reduce to a minimum any chan e in the constituents, and the product produced will dissolve in water and will not whey off for a considerable period of',timc, even greater in extent than the period at which wheying off will occur in fresh buttermilk.

In like manner, if buttermilk condensed in the manner heretofore described, is reduced to powder by the process herein described, or perhaps b other suitable processes, the

resultant pro uct is readily soluble and is an A improvement upon fresh buttermilk so far not whey off for a considerable period 4of time,V erhaps twenty-four hours, whereas fresh uttermilk will show marked indications of separation of the constituents within two or .three hours.

Although I have described particular methods for producing the products herein disclosed, I do not 'desire to limit myself to any particular process or series of steps in the production o said products, as changes may be made-in the details of the process, and perhaps methods discovered for otherwise producing the products.

What I claim is:

1. As a new product, a concentrated but.- termilk, the dissolution of whose constituents has been arrested.

2. As a new product, a concentrated but-- termilk of smooth and uniform appearance.

3. As a new product, a concentrated buttermilk ofl smooth and uniform appearance,

the dissolution of whose constituents has been.

arrested.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set y Witnesses;

H. E. CHASE, R. G. CARROLL'. 

